Learning How to Think

One of the most interesting stories that I have ever read was the story of Helen Keller and her relationship with her teacher, Annie Sullivan. Keller was born without sight or hearing. I once heard a man tell of his brother whom he said was "deaf and dumb." I had no idea what that was.

Helen Keller may have been deaf, but she was not dumb. She had no language. She had no knowledge of what anything was. However, on one fateful day, Keller finally understood. Sullivan had been trying to establish communication with this young blind and deaf girl. Suddenly, as Sullivan was "signing" into the palm of Keller's hand, Keller understood and the communication barrier was broken. A world was opened up to this hopeless young girl; a world of thought, understanding and language.


Thinking controls most human emotion and behavior. Humans had thoughts before they had language, but language is one large factor in the critical thinking process. Communication with oneself (self-talk) and others is a language issue. Speaking to oneself is thinking. Speaking to others is thinking revealed in language. We learn a language or languages and we also learn how to think. Learning how to think realistically, logically and truthfully about any subject matter is called education.


A thought is a form of reasoning, calculation and a personal perception concerning anything. Thoughts can be educated evaluations or they can be perceptions based squarely on ignorance. Thoughts can be centered in the truth or framed on an untruth. Even educated thoughts are not necessarily true.


Learning how to think is one of the most significant tasks in the developmental process. Excellent teachers possess knowledge of logic and reasoning. They are skilled in the transfer of information related to critical thinking skills. Thinking abilities are taught and fortunate is the person who learns them.


Simply trusting one's reasoning and calculating ability without comparing it with the reasoning and calculations of others is dangerous and arrogant. Learning how to mentally calculate about anything is a fundamental necessity for anyone wishing to rise to higher levels of understanding and freedom. One of the tools of anarcy is to keep the population in ignorance. Ignorance is a potential prison for those trusting it's bliss.


Vocabulary is the building blocks of language. Thinking skills are enhanced by a growing vocabulary. There are more ways of thinking about anything when there are more words to explain it or understand it. Learning how to think about anything is controlled by the vocabulary of language. Understanding is communicated to self and others through langauge vocabulary.

Thinking is normal for living creatures. However, all creatures are not created equal when it comes to rational, logical and truthful thinking. The human animal seems to have a great cognitve advantage over other living creatures sharing the planet.

Thinking is everything and it is natural for humans to think. However, thinking skills are taught. Neglecting this most important elelment in human development is tantamount to relugating oneself to a prison of ignorance and mistakes. Education is knowledge related to any subject. Education is learning how to think, how to calculate or reason, about a certain subject.
Like Helen Keller, we can have a moment of enlightenment concerning the importance of thinking in our lives.